Does the Book Alcoholics Anonymous Contradict Christian Doctrine?

By Chad Prigmore

The Book Alcoholics Anonymous or the "Big Book" as it's called by members of AA is the bible of Alcoholics Anonymous which introduces its recommended program of recovery and the Twelve Steps.[1]

The following are excerpts from the book Alcoholics Anonymous compared to Christian doctrine in the scriptures.

Alcoholics Anonymous Page 12: "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"

It's not up to us to create our own conception of God. God tells us in His word who He is.

• Isaiah 9:6-7, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
• Isaiah 42:8, I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other...  

Alcoholics Anonymous Page 13: "There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch. I have not had a drink since."

There is no forgiveness of sin outside of faith in Jesus Christ.

• Romans 3:23-25,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. 

Alcoholics Anonymous Pages 13&14: "My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements."

Alcoholics Anonymous teaches that by following its program anyone can come into a relationship with God, this is a false teaching in direct contradiction to the truth of salvation only through Jesus Christ.

• John 14:6, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
• Act 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Alcoholics Anonymous Page 46: "We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men."

The above statement is heresy. There is no way to reconcile this statement with what Jesus teaches in John 14:6 and Matthew 7:13. This one statement alone should compel any true believer and follower of Christ to reject Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps.

• John 14:6, Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
• Matthew 7:13, Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

Alcoholics Anonymous Page 58: "Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves." (This is part of a portion of Chapter 5 which is read at every AA meeting).

How is it possible to obey the command of the Lord in Mark 12:30 and then completely give oneself to a program of recovery?

• Mark 12:30,  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Endnotes:

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition (New York: A.A. World Services, 2001)